STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 9g 
from causes which have their effect over a far wider field than that of 
the immediate accident itself. The physical injury is only the spectac- 
ular evidence of some underlying maladjustment in the same way that 
a headache is only an alarm bell that calls attention to something that 
is wrong within.” 
A physical accident must be looked at, not as a thing in itself, but 
as evidence of an inability to harness and control the forces of pro- 
duction. When industrial forces are brought under perfect control 
there will not only be a maximum of production, but the unexpected, 
that is, accidents, will not happen; and conversely, when accidents 
cease to happen it is probable that the cause may be looked for in an 
industrial organization so well adapted to the problem in hand that 
the maximum of production is being secured. 
This will be recognized as a very different thing from the static 
safety in which accidents do not occur only because there is no inten- 
sity of activity. The safety that we visualize is not a static safety at 
all, but a dynamic safety; it is the safety of an express train that em- 
bodies the maximum of good design and good construction running 
over a road-bed well laid out and in perfect repair; it is the safety 
of an ocean steamship thoroughly equipped to perform its task; it is 
the safety of an airplane in which nothing has been left to chance. In 
these cases safety and efficiency evidently go together, for a physical 
accident would evidently be a frustration of the purpose in hand. 
There is, however, an equally close relation in industry in general, 
The right functioning of a factory is the same type of phenomenon as 
the smooth running of an express train. If accidents occur it can 
mean only that the problem of adjusting the organization to its work 
has not been thoroughly solved and this lack of adjustment must show 
in production figures as well as in physical accidents. 
It should be pointed out that the connection between safety and 
efficiency, that is, the sub ject of this research, goes very deep. There 
is undoubtedly a direct relationship between safety and production that 
is of considerable importance, The disturbing effect of an accident 
upon business is now known to be much greater than has been gen- 
erally supposed. In fact, the effects of an accident that are commonly 
insured against, probably constitute not more than a fourth or fifth 
of the entire economic loss. Important as this may be, however, this 
is not the relationship that is being primarily studied; in fact, the 
research would never have been undertaken for this alone. The 
really significant relationship between safety and efficiency is not a 
direct relationship at all, but arises out of the fact that both are the 
results of a third factor, namely, a purposeful, powerful, dynamic, 
and executive organization of the industry, An industry that is rightly